Mumbai:
Workers in India experienced a drop in real manufacturing
wages of 22 per cent, despite an increase in manufacturing
labour productivity of more than 84 per cent between 1990
and 2002, the International Labour Organisation (ILO)
said in a report.
While
real wages in manufacturing sector have risen throughout
much of Asia, they have not matched increases in labour
productivity, according to the ILO report Labour and
Social Trends in South Asia and the Pacific 2006: Progress
toward Decent Work.
Unemployment
in South Asia averaged five per cent against 4.6 per cent
in the whole of Asia Pacific region, the report said.
The employment scenario would become more acute in the
next decade as the labour force grows by around 2.1 per
cent annually, adding over 14 million people to the labour
market between now and 2015. The most rapid increase will
be in countries with the greatest number of working poor,
the report added.
Economic
growth stayed well above five per cent in most South Asian
countries, including India, Iran, Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
the Maldives and Bhutan, since 2000. However, job creation
has not been strong enough to fully absorb new labour
market entrants,
"The Asia-Pacific region is the most dynamically
developing region in the world," according to South
Korean labor minister Lee Sang-soo, who presides over
the meeting. "And 60 per cent of the global work
force resides here," he added.
Representatives
from about 40 countries and regions in the Asia-Pacific
as well as workers'' and employers'' organisations were
attending the ILO Asian regional meeting. They are expected
to discuss issues related to globalisation and its effects
on labor.
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